The Maruti Suzuki 800 is gone, but not forgotten by its loyal fans

Remember that little thing?

In India, chances are your first car memory ever was inside the cavernous interiors of a Hindustan Motors Ambassador. Or a Premier Padmini. Or a Maruti Suzuki 800. While these cars may hall fallen out of favour now, in this three-part series we look at how these three cars first got generations of Indians on the road. We will tell their stories, both good and bad, through very personal memories of them.

Jerin Benny and his 2004 Maruti Suzuki 800 happened to be at the right place at the right time. Some school children had just gotten in a terrible road accident in rural Kerala and the closest hospital was at least an hour away. That’s when all his years drag racing in the Maruti 800 finally paid off. “I got the children to hospital under 45 minutes, when it normally takes an hour to cover the distance,” Benny says, obviously proud of his accomplishment. “If I hadn’t been there with my car, those children wouldn’t have made it that day.”

On that day, the tiniest of cars made the biggest impact. And that has really been the story ever since the budget Japanese car, the Suzuki Fronte, was reincarnated as the Maruti Suzuki 800 in the early 1980s; the impact it has had on the automotive scene in India is totally disproportionate to its modest physical dimensions. The compact, light body that can seat no more than five in relative discomfort was powered by a minuscule 796cc engine that put out an extremely modest 37bhp. That propelled the car to 100km/h from start at a snail’s pace taking up to 20 seconds.

But those uninspiring numbers don’t do justice to what this car meant to generations of Indian. Around 2.7 million Maruti 800 ferried people across India for 28 long years and the car remained the bestselling vehicle in the country till 2004. Only the Hindustan Ambassador, another Indian icon, can rival the 800’s production run. And it’s run didn’t remain limited to India. Indian-made Maruti 800s were exported to Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Hungary, France, the Netherlands, England, Italy, Malta and the erstwhile republics of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Quite a feat for such a poky little car.

Photo: Jerin Benny

The car retailed in India for Rs50,000, far cheaper than anything else on offer at the time. Production numbers were limited and demand was such that people were willing to pay double that amount to buy the car off current owners. In fact, the 800s production in India was such a big deal that the then Prime Minister of the country, Indira Gandhi, actually presented the keys to the owner of the first car, Harpal Singh of New Delhi.

And to the people who owned the car, its charm has persisted over the years. Benny makes a living “modding” cars in his hometown of Kottayam in Kerala, turning stock vehicles in to whatever car-owners want them to be. “And people used to mock me for modding my humble Maruti 800. They kept telling me I was crazy for putting in this kind of money and effort in to a little cheap car. That only spurred me on further,” he says. He first fell in love with his family’s car and wanted one that he could mod. The 23-year old is already on his third Maruti 800 and one them was even famous. “I didn’t realise when I bought it but turns out one of my Maruti 800s was driven by superstar Malayali Mohanlal in the movie Bhoomiyile Rajakkanmar,” he says. This is not surprising because the car was the choice of vehicle for the who’s who of the time. Everyone from cricket sensation Sachin Tendulkar to Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan is reported to have owned one of these. Benny’s car’s provenance has made him very popular at MS8 meet ups, a Maruti Suzuki 800 fan club he started.

His current 800 is a souped up 2004 model. “I have swapped the 800cc engine with a slightly more powerful 1000cc motor, replaced the regular wheels with lightweight alloys; I have a dual exhaust set up so the engine note is a bit throatier,” Benny says. So now the car has a bit more get go when he takes it drag racing. “I can do around 150km/h,” he says. “I am never giving this car up. I drive it everywhere and I even offroading. I have the best sound system that is so loud and bass-ey that the entire car shakes when you turn it up. My family knows what this car means to me and they have promised to bury it with me when I die.”

Photo: Vineeth Kumar

The ability to quickly and cheaply modify the car made it very popularity. It was a relatively blank canvas on which owners could add their own personality. For instance, twenty-eight-year-old Public Works Department employee Vineeth Kumar grew up dreaming of owning a MK1 Volkswagen Golf GTi but somehow that car has always been just beyond his grasp. But when he found an unloved 1985 Maruti 800 lying in the junkyard, he saw an opportunity. “It had been lying there for eight years till I came around that day in 2011,” he says. He bought it and took it straight to his friend’s body shop. After two years and a lot of money and effort, the finished product is a car is unlike any other Maruti 800 you will find on the streets. Kumar has welded the back doors shut so it is now a three-door configuration, much like the MK1 VW. The car’s face, with the round headlights and distinctly Golf grille, is also clearly inspired Kumar’s dream car. He has even taken out the backseats and thrown in a roll cage. “It is exactly the car I dreamed of as a young boy,” he says. “I love driving it every day.”

Photo: Vineeth Kumar

Every one of us has a Maruti 800 story. Some of us learnt to drive in it, others remember it as their first car and how well it coped with all the bumps and scrapes we subject it to. Some of us even modified it and took it rallying. And for 28 years, the little car did big things on roads in India and around the world. The miles haven’t always been easy or gentle, given the state of Indian roads of the era, but it took it all in its stride.